Qualities of Good Preaching

Contents

1 Qualities of Good Preaching

By Pastor David Cox

Qualities of Good Preaching is a discourse on the indispensable qualities of a good sermon, veracity, clarity, authority, and authenticity.

In this article, I am giving my reactions to a post on Qualities of Good Preaching by Kevin DeYong. He outlines four thoughts on what makes a sermon “Good Preaching”: Veracity, Clarity, Authority, Authenticity.

Indispensable Qualities

I would agree with Kevin that these are key elements in any good sermon. I would also note that these qualities go to the root of the message of the sermon really being the message from God and not some invention of man.

Veracity

By veracity, he means being faithful and true to the Word of God. So many preachers mishandle the Word of God getting conclusions and commands that really are not in the texts they are using to support their sermon. Likewise, interpretation of the Bible means that the interpreter (and a preacher is exactly that, an interpreter) must grab and hold the entirety of Scripture in his mind and view of the whole of the Bible and each part at the same time.

What you say when dealing with salvation must “jive” or be in harmony with what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of Eschatology etc.

Clarity

By clarity, we mean that people can easily understand what you are saying. So many preachers go off to seminary and come back with the head loaded up with theological concepts that nobody in their congregation really understands. They use this “jargon” to impress people, but it doesn’t edify spiritually the brethren, and poor new converts are totally lost, and the unsaved present are turned off.

Clarity means we pay attention to the structure, the flow, the pace, and the length of our sermons. Clarity doesn’t mean the congregation must remember your three points, but they should know what the text was about and what you were trying to say.

The delivery of the sermon greatly determines if the sermon is good or not. You cannot rely only on content for making a sermon good and edifying to people. You must be enthusiastic and have and show great passion when preaching.

Authority

Matt 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: Matt 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Some sermons that I have heard left me with more doubts afterward than what I had going into the thing. This is poor. When a preacher stands before a congregation, it is to announce what God has given him to speak. God is not confused. And God doesn’t communicate confusing things. It is the man, the preacher, who confuses if something is confusing.

Good preaching sounds forth with certainty, not because the preacher is infallible, but because God speaks through him, making claims on people’s lives, declaring the truth with boldness, taking courageous stands where others cower in fear.

Authenticity

Kevin develops the idea of authenticity based on the preacher’s personality. We do not want preachers that just download a sermon by somebody else from the Internet and preaches that word-for-word. That is no good. There is a rapport that needs to be built up between the preacher and the congregation and it is hard to describe.

This rapport is the preacher watching the people as he speaks and then reacting to their reactions of his words. At times, there needs to be a pause in the sermon. At times, people don’t understand what was just said, and the preacher needs to leave his notes for a minute and explain something that he thought was clear but isn’t.

Moreover, the preacher needs to drill the application and purpose of the sermon down into the hearts of the people hearing it. He needs to be very personal, passionate, and exhort his people to come to a point of action in their hearts. I would contrast this with many a preacher that think coming down the aisle to kneel and pray is the same thing. It is not. A decision or a reinforcement is necessary for every sermon. A decision if they were not of that sermon’s doctrinal position or belief before, and reinforcement if they were already doing it, and the sermon reinforces that point.

More Posts on Improving Preaching Issues

Pastor David Cox is a missionary. See my ministry updates here.

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Various Informational Ads

Are we a country of Laws? Are we a country of Laws? Is an examination of the question of we are a country of laws, and nobody is above the law, and what is really happening in our country. This is an opinion piece written in light of the news of the day. Topics: The Greatness of the United States of America | "Nobody is above the Law" | Comparisons | Defund the Police | No one is above the law | What one would ask for...

Excerpts from the article...
I say "for a person to have a right walk before God" meaning that what you personally do is acceptable in a level of being fair and just both what you do to others, and in the context of what others do to you. You only have a claim of somebody doing something "wrong" in a moral context, and this moral context has to begin with God's existence and God's laws over us before you get to what happens in a court of law in a country, state, county, or city.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

This verse fully backs up this concept. To "please God" who is the Judge... The concept of "rewarder" is somebody that looks at actions and gives a reward or a punishment. This is ultimately God's task, and earthly judges must also answer to God, as those in their courts have to answer to that earthly judge. We posit God "must believe that he is" means they must accept the authority and controls (of blessing or curse, of reward or punishment) from the Judge. He exists. He has a forceful interaction with our lives.

The system that is built on this is a system where one person doesn't get anything different from another. Are there abuses? Yea, but life is full of injustices. But taking something from one person to give to another person is not the answer here especially when the person you are taking away things from really hasn't done anything wrong. Black people (Asians, etc.) need to enter shoulder to shoulder with every other person on an equal ground, and they need to compete. That is life. If they of their own merit and effort get ahead, so be it. But nobody owes them a living. Reparations are the opposite of this.
Read the article: Are we a country of Laws?

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Tracts Group 2

fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman examines femininity from a Bible perspective. It compares homosexuals being feminine. Topics: God created us, man, and woman. | The Spiritual Fight is within us ourselves. | A Device of Satan A Device of Satan | The Homosexual and Trans Angle | Highlighting the Woman, How She Behaves | The Crux of the Matter | To Be a Feminine Woman, She must attend to her adorning. | The Description of a Woman.
Excerpt from the Tract: 1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither… nor adulterers, nor effeminate… In other words, these people were doing the opposite of what God commanded them to do. Being men and having the command to act manly (1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong), they acted like women. For women, it is the command of God that they act feminine, to be womanly. To seem feminine, these perverts usually use a dress or skirt, and they never use pants, because they know that by using pants they identify themselves being masculine, and using skirts and dress with being feminine. But it seems like an impossible thing to fathom, but even homosexuals know exactly how to identify as a woman, men being feminine, in their rebellion, and Christian women can neither define what it is that God commands them to be, how to dress themselves as women, neither how to act feminine.
How do you distinguish between a man and a woman? Pants in a man, and dress or skirt in a woman. Even common bathroom signs show this obvious point. The question is not how a woman dress should, but why don’t women, especially Christian women, dress like a woman should. It is not a matter of clarity, but a matter of no desire on the part of certain women. Are you a feminine woman? If not, why not?
Read the Tract: fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman